Tempest
by Team Spastic
Summary: Welcome to Sytar: a region apart from the others, dominated by The Organization, rife with disaster and chaos. In short... it ain't your typical pokemon game. Violence, coarse language, dark themes. Fake pokemon, fake region.
1. Prolouge

_Spiky: Well, hello thar.  
This is Tempest, a story co-written between me (Spiky) and my good friend, (). This is NOT a typical pokemon story; it will contain violence, dark themes, death, and strong language. And it contains a lot, repeat, a lot of fake pokemon and takes place almost entirely in a fan-region. Needless to say the characters are original...  
Read at your own caution-- if any of that disturbs or is something you're not fond of, don't read. In short-- don't like, don't read. Flames keep our toes toasty!_

_If you're not turned off-- read on, and we hope you enjoy it. If not... hey, we don't say no to constructive criticism!_

**_Prologue_**

The room would be dark, if it weren't for the computer screens and lights flashing in regular intervals; sound echoed through the room quite a lot, paper printing, keys clacking, a harsh voice barking orders and insulting the people he had working for him.

The floor was shiny, almost reflective, and patterned like a clear night sky; it would have been very pretty if the room was darkened as it should have been.

Men and women alike paced the room, keeping tabs on everything that was happening; feeds from cameras, tracking maps, data that changed on screens regularly.

In the center of the room, however, the centerpiece of the room was something a bit... odd. A container, clear and solid on the outside-- and yet, the inside was laced by what seemed to be pure white energy. A small purple bubble hovered in the very center, several feet off the floor of it, containing a small, pale dragon; six sharp wings lay limp. Unsurprising; it was unconscious.

"One," a harsh voice barked from his seat in the back of the room, turning to one of the women near him. "What's the status of the First Being?"

"It's gaining power as we speak," replied the one labeled as... well, One, "And it seems more than willing to continue working with us."

"But," came the voice of the only other male in the room - Three - "We've lost the signal of the Second Being," he reported.

"Damn," the first to speak hissed under his breath, making a mental note to do some very unkind things to whoever made the tracking devices.

"Well, at least we have The First and The Third, yes?" another female voice asked, in an almost bored tone.

"Put a sock in it before I rip your lips off, Four."

"Technically, we only have the Third," muttered One under her breath, by nature a nitpicker and attuned to small details. Part of the reason she was hated around here, part of the reason she was accepted.

"Still, we need to at least have a track on all three," Three hissed, interrupted.

Five, who straightened his back in the chair in which he sat, started, "It can't have gone far. And if the Second thinks it can escape us for long, it's wrong. Dead wrong," he smirked, with special emphasis on the word 'dead'. "By the way," he said quickly, whipping his head to the side. "Two," he said quietly, so that only she could hear him. "How is our little secret coming along?" he inquired, a rather unnerving smile on his face.

"We should have it done in a couple weeks, sir," she responded, returning the smile to her leader. "Or at least, it had better be," Two added, growling something about incompetent underlings and 'if you want something done right'.

"The First is helping is, isn't it?" Four shot back at Three, still in an extremely apathetic tone of voice, turning to him. "We have the Third, and we would have the Second, if the idiots we have working for us weren't so..."

"Idiotic?" Two suggested.

"Incompetent," snarled Three, "But still- The First may be on our side, true. We may have the Third. But who knows what the Second may be doing?"

"Nothing much," One muttered, turning to join in on the conversation, "the Third's absence has weakened it, along with some attacks on it from the First. Still, a tracer on it would be preferable."

"If you honestly think that that thing can do much... do you realize what it IS?" Five spat, looking with a look of annoyance at the ceiling, but he smiled slightly. "Without the Third, as long as the First grows stronger it can't do anything."

"True," Two remarked, nodding. "Some other pokémon will probably just... take care of it before we even need to look for it. And if it doesn't, well, we do have other means."

The small dragon pokémon in the bubble lifted its head slowly, coal-black eyes reflecting the lights around it as it blinked a few times.

It let out a weak cry of dispair before it fell unconscious once more.


	2. 1: Oh, shit

Almost a year had passed since the Kanto and Johto champions had first made their way to Sinnoh. Having trekked its length [Asterik having been miserable in both the swamp and tundra parts of the map for her refusal to wear shoes and seen the Pokemon, now was the chance they had been looking for to return home. With Lance riding on Tsunami and Asterik on Cryo's back, the lugia and articuno seemed to be making good time.

"It'll be good to go home, eh?" Asterik asked of the other champion, riding the bird of ice like a professional - which she happened to be, specializing in bird Pokemon before her time in Sinnoh. Her red hair, still tyed back for the length of it but having some hang in her face like the unruly mop it was, seemed even more tangled and knotted. The black sleeveless tank top she wore was covered by a brown jacket she had taken to wearing, and the fact that her loose jeans seemed even more ripped and stained than ever made quite an... odd sight, riding majestically on the Cryo's back.

"I guess," the other trainer responded, feeling quite a lot better to be flying on the back of the cloned lugia. It was so odd how he could fly anywhere, despite being blinded...

Lance was always so soft-spoken, really... he wasn't one to speak much, let alone show a lot of enthusiasm. Inwardly, he was all but ecstatic to finally be returning to Johto. He'd have to manage the battles backed up for him, yes... but for once, he was almost looking forward to returning to Blackthorn.

Wow, that was a surprise-- he NEVER wanted to go back.

He rode on his pokemon's back in near silence, looking straight ahead of him into the artificially-created legendary's head. His pale blueish hair was, as it had been almost twelve months ago, completely unkempt and untied... just a noticable bit longer.

His jeans weren't the tattered black ones he had worn on the trip into Sinnoh-- instead, they were tattered, half-destroyed blue jeans. Oh yes, big change. His other clothing was simple-- the same, even-more-destroyed white tennis shoes, and a black t-shirt. Unless you counted the wrapped bandages around almost all of his upper arm. Sneasel were nasty things.

He gave a sigh of relief, hardly able to believe he was finally going to go home. Admittedly, in Kanto, he could have always flown back to Johto at any time.

Lance mused inwardly if his father would even notice how long he had been gone. Probably not.

"I think I see Sandgem Town," he said, a bit louder than his typical voice... seeing as he had to call to the bird trainer. They just had to give their pokedex data to the professor, and they could be off.

Spotting said town, Asterik nodded. "At the rate we're going," she called over, "It should be just over two minutes until we're at landing distance."

Trust the bird freak to be able to calculate things like that.

"Never thought Pallet town would seem so exciting," she grumbled to the giant bird whos back she sat on, "But compared to this, I need a vacation." The Articuno, in response, gave a laugh-like coo, agreeing. Once the two minutes were over, Cryo turned on an unspoken signal, wheeling down and hoping that Tsunami sensed that and followed. Folding her wings to drop quickly, then spreading them once more to break the fall, blue talons touched the grass, effectively freezing over where it touched, only to be melted again in a few seconds by the sun.

"Thanks, Cryo. Return," Asterik put out, making room for the blinded Lugia who was soon to follow.

Despite his impairment, the lugia managed to do the same as the articuno had... ... err, minus the fact that he was quite a few times larger.

"Thanks, Tsunami," Lance said quietly to the sea monster, stroking the creature's neck for a moment. "It's been so odd not to fly on your back..." he muttered, before recalling the lugia back into his ultra ball. Of course, as soon as TSunami had vanished into red light, a red and white ball popped off of Lance's belt of its own accord, splitting on the ground, the red light within forming into an anthropomorphic dog-like creature.

"Hey, beeyotches," the Rukario known as Anubis greeted in plain english, picking up the pokeball he was contained in. Unlike the most of his kind, he wore a fairly new belt around his waist, which the sphere was clipped onto; a pokeball belt. He grinned, giving the peace sign as best his paws allowed and sticking his tongue out.

"I see you're back," the white-haired professor by the name of Rowan noted, stepping out of his lab with a smile, though not paying attention to people's odd stares at the two who had just ridden in on legendary pokemon.

"'Ey, Anubis," Asterik chuckled at the rukario, then nodded to Rowan. "And, got the Pokedexes and stuff finished. Some odd Pokemon you have in Sinnoh," she muttered, and to Lance lowly, "WHY didn't he know that himself? He lives here."

"Exactly what I said when we first came here," Lance replied back quietly, before nodding, pulling out his pokedex, scrolling through it quickly to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything that would force them to go back anywhere again. Frankly-- Lance wanted to scram.

"Excelent," Rowan remarked, walking back into his lab, suddenly seeming to be lost deep in thought. "Come along, Trainers, we'll upload the data to my computer," the professor said, indicating for them to follow him.

"I don't suppose he means me, eh?" Anubis remarked dryly, smirking slightly as he followed Lance in, either way.

Asterik, who had a Pokeball-explosion of her own with the Butterfree known as Sally floating by her side, followed Anubis, Lance and Rowan in an odd-looking game of follow-the-leader-so-we-can-leave. "So, professor," she chimed from the back of the line, "What're you planning on doing with this data?"

"Inspecting it, of course," Rowan remarked. "Sharing it with the other professors," he added, snatching their pokedexes from them for a moment, plugging them into his main computer. After he typed a couple lines of-- well, something, Lance couldn't tell-- he handed the devices back to the trainers, nodding.

"Impressive," Lance remarked in sarcasm, very quietly. "So we can go back home now?" he inquired, now in his normal tone of voice.

"Actually..." Rowan remarked slowly, frowning a bit. "No, I have one more thing I need to you to do. Have either of you heard of the Sytar reigon?"

"Sytar? Sounds familiar," Asterik frowned, then thought back to Blake. "Is that the new region? That the raccoon Pokemon thing came from?" Of course, with her having taken Diamond, the Piplup, and Lance having Hakame, his turtwig, they met April, the girl who had taken the Chimchar and named him Helios. For Trevor, the fourth person they traveled with for a short while, a completely new Pokemon had been seen with him, looking like a green raccoon with leaves jutting from its shoulders. Over time, though, they found that it had evolved to be more draconic than raccoon-like, something that still baffled her to this day.

"Well, yes, the Teracoon I gave to Trevor was from Sytar. My friend, Professor Sequoia, in fact, hands them out to new trainers in Sytar," Rowan explained, taking a seat.

"I've heard of it," Anubis cut in, folding his arms with a frown. "It's supposed to be bad luck," the Rukario said, looking at the ceiling. "And there aren't many new trainers there. A lot of people are afraid of--- something, I don't know what, exactly," the dog admitted, Rowan raising his eyebrows slightly. If he weren't on a subject right now, the professor probably would have questioned the pokemon.

"You'll be fine," Rowan assured the trainers. "It's just that the communication between our labs has... well, short circuited," the professor sighed, shrugging. "If you two could go to Sytar to find him and give him your pokedexes, just so he could get the information..."

_I agree with Anubis_, Sally muttered, _Something just doesn't seem right with what I've heard about that place. It's... Weird. Dangerous weird. _

Well, two talking pokemon graced them today.

"Well, if it's so close we're running an errand, we can easily fly back to Sinnoh, and from there home, right?" Astrik chirped.

"Right," Rowan piped up, nodding. "Do you have any objections, Lance?" he inquired, sitting back in his seat.

Of COURSE Lance did-- he wanted to go home, bluntly speaking. And even though he was egotistical, Anubis was usually right in his predictions and gut feelings.

But he wouldn't say anything. The male teenager shook his head, in complete silence.

"Ah, good," Rowan replied, clapping his hands together. "I'm sure you'll be able to find it-- just fly southeast for a short while. It shouldn't take very long at all... just land in the southernmost town you see, you can get a map there... I'm afraid I don't remember where his lab is..."

Here, Anubis slapped his forehead.

Sally's wings stopped fluttering for a moment at this, her version of a headslap as she dropped a couple feet and came back up to height. _THAT's a help_, she snapped sarcastically.

"Ah, we'll find it," Asterik muttered, frowning, "Southeast, right?"

_With your sense of direction, we'll wind up somewhere in Hoenn_, Sally muttered at her trainer, causing the Kanto champion to glare at the butterfly.

"Right," Rowan said, glaring a bit at the bug-type. "You may go on your way," he finished, as once again, as they had been at the start of their journey, the trainers (and pokemon) were forcibly escorted by several assistants.

"Some things never change," Lance remarked with some sarcasm, sighing. "Well, Tsunami, looks like you're out again," he muttered, opening the ultra ball so that the lugia would materialize above their heads before landing, as did Asterik with the articuno. "Joy of joys..."

"This doesn't feel right," Anubis pointed out, folding his arms again.

Upon arriving in the southernmost town["Ha, I DO have a sense of direction," Asterik would later point out to Sally, Cryo was once again withdrawn as the Kanto champion looked around. Something just didn't feel right- even in such a small town there were normally... People.

Guess what was lacking.

The air? No, no there was plenty of that. It just lacked things to breathe it.

Conveniently, a scrap of paper that fluttered by, blown by the abundance of air, landed at Asterik's feet. Bending to pick it up, she frowned at the ratty-looking map and tried to somehow get it straightened out. "We're in... Relar town?"

"Looks like it," Lance replied after a moment, not responding until he had recalled the blind lugia, looking over the girl's shoulder at the map. "Gee, what a warm welcome," he added with a trace of a dry smile as he looked around him. Normally, he would have liked a quiet town...

But, this was too quiet. As in, way too still... even though you could see some people shuffling about inside the few houses, it seemed like there was nothing truly ALIVE to be found.

"I told you," Anubis said, shuddering. He was, after all, an Aura pokemon -- and the very way this place felt, what little he could pick up from the people inside the buildings-- it was creepy to him. "I've spoken to pokemon from Sytar... they were all too traumatized to tell me anything..."

_Do you blame them?_ Sally asked, having appeared yet again without warning. As a psy, the place must have been as bad as it was to Anubis._ I bet if we knocked on a door they'd- like- shove some charms at us to make sure we're not evil. Can we just get out of here as soon as possible?_

"Planning on it," Asterik muttered, then paused. "Hey- it looks like that dot on the map- right there? In... uh..." She paused to read it, the letters faded and scratchy, "Grature? Might be an indication of the Pokemon lab."

_Or a food stain._ A pause as Sally recieved a questioning look. _What, you never know what happened to it when you find a map on the floor!_

"Ground," Anubis corrected quietly, but sighed. The sky was clear, it was a nice day; the scenery was good enough. And... it still felt as though it may as well have been cloudy and barren, for what it felt like.

However, suddenly, a loud -- no, loud wasn't the word; perhaps piercing or shrill fit better -- cry from another part of the small town caused both the dog and the Johto champion to jump slightly. It had been all but silent except for them.

That was... well, unexpected.

"Was it just me," Anubis said quietly, "or did that--"

"Sound like a pokemon?" Lance finished, knowing exactly what the dog was going to say. "Guess we have to check..." he muttered, though there was an uncertaincy in his stomach, something that told him not to check.

Obviously rather shaken, Asterik paused and then started off for the part of town it had come from, rolling the map up and putting it in her pack. As she turned the corner, a suspicious lump stood out against the barely-paved streets. Picking up the pace, she fought the urge to gag as the fact that it was a pokemon- much less a bird. Falling to her knees - after all, if it were injured, it wouldn't fight too much- she cautiously picked it up.

Laying limp in her hands was a tiny bird Pokemon, similar to pidgeys save for feather colouration- It was a pale blue, splashed with- sickeningly- red. As Lance and Anubis pulled up, Sally flashed them a warning look. Asterik, without looking up, obviously shaken by such a thing, gave them two words with a trembling voice- "It's dead."

A new foice came, then, softly. Not trembling as Asterik's was, but still mild, "Depressing, isn't it?"


	3. 2: Izzy

Lance -- though not a bird lover, really, felt his heart leap into his throat on the declaration made by the Kanto champion, a sick feeling creeping into his stomach to replace the hesitation. However, he paused, looking at the new person who spoke, blinking as he raised an eyebrow.

Anubis, meanwhile, hopped over with a grimace, taking the bird from Asterik. "It's not a scyther," he remarked, looking carefully at the bleeding slash across the pokemon's throat, feeling rather sick himself. "The cut is too wide... and there aren't two, not a sneasel... I'd say absol," the Rukario declared, looking up. "It must have lost its life very quickly, this cut is deep..." the dog muttered quietly, ignoring the newcomer entirely. He frowned, looking up at Asterik. "I'm sorry."

Asterik merely nodded to Anubis' statements, as the newcomer - a young kid, not any more than ten, wearing white clothes [consisting of an oversized long-sleeved shirt and pants that were extremely dirty and with messy black hair hanging in hazel eyes - took it gently from the dog Pokemon, not caring if his hands got bloody, and stroked the lifeless head. "It's a shiny," he explained softly, "It must have been seen as weak. Unable to blend in as well to the surroundings, I suppose..."

After a small pause for Asterik to regain her composure and not start sobbing in front of everyone, she weakly stood. "Why," she asked, "Do you know why?"

A sad smile was elicted from the newcomer. "Things here aren't what they seem," he muttered, still petting the dead bird.

"Obviously," Lance remarked quietly, trying to keep his own composure, though his voice was shaking slightly. He had a tremendous respect for pokemon-- and he frankly had never seen anything quite as bad as that. Sure, he had seen pokemon being slain; but he had never known a predator pokemon to slay anything for the sake of it.

"I told you," Anubis repeated, grimacing. "This place is bad news." The dog sighed, absentmindedly running a paw over his own ears.

Lance sighed, closing his eyes for a moment, before looking at the newcomer. "Out of curiousity... what's your name?"

"My name?" frowned the kid, taking a moment to think. "My name is- is- Izzy," he offered with another weak smile, before turning his attention to the pokemon in his hands as if to end the questioning.

"Apprehensive," Lance muttered, sighing slightly, but not thinking twice of it.

"Do you know why this happens?" Anubis asked, stepping over, though twitching. This place was still creepy. "Don't-- don't reigons usually have legendaries that keep things like this in balance?" the Rukario asked, sighing slightly.

"Yes," Izzy muttered, the voice of a young kid taking on an almost dangerous tone. "But the balence has been disrupted. People and Pokemon are... corrupt. Cruel," he muttered, going back to his normal tone. "It's... really better if you don't ask about it here."

The Johto champion frowned slightly, but decided to follow the child's instructions. This place was already weirder than anything in Johto, he decided, shaking his head slightly.

This, was NOT gonna be fun.

The dog blinked several times, but sighed and nodded, silently recalling himself back into his pokeball. He needed to think about this for a while...

Without a word, Lance picked up the sphere that now held the Rukario, clipping it back into his own belt.

"Do you know where the pokemon lab is in this reigon?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes," Izzy informed, "It's in Grature-" A pause as he turned, "Go down this path and make a right," a small frown, "But be careful, okay? I have a feeling... That you guys'll be more important here than you realize..."

"Thank you, Izzy," Asterik muttered quietly, wiping her bloodied hands on her pants and ignoring the ominous words of being important. Sally, who fluttered by Asterik's head still, watched the boy carefully, looking for anything that might give a clue as to who he was.

Lance paused, before nodding slightly, shrugging slightly so that his messenger bag would hang in a more comfortable position across his shoulder, lost in thought, hardly noticing what Izzy had said. "Let's get going," he said quietly after a moment, looking over at the bird trainer. "We-- we have to get our pokedexes to him, right?" he asked, though part of him knew-- there was no WAY they could just leave after what they were sent to do.

"Y-yeah," Asterik muttered, nodding cautiously before starting off with one last glance at Izzy and the tiny pokemon he held in his hands, who by now had long stopped bleeding. Looking ahead, she started off, some of the shock wearing off and being replaced by emotions at least she could use. Anger, denial, sadness- All bundled up into one that threatened to make her lose control. Sally, sitting on her shoulder, telepathically tried to calm her trainer down to no avail, being shut out. Giving up on that venture, the butterfly pokemon turned around to see... The kid stood there, eyes closed for a second, and dissapeared.

Saying nothing, the butterfree turned to face front, wondering what they had just gotten into.

"Why do I feel that we just got in far over our heads?" Lance asked quietly, turning over to look at the bird trainer, the image of the bird pokemon still vivid in his mind. He sighed, looking up at the sky. It was still morning, the sun rising to its zenith slowly. He let out a deep sigh, turning his gaze to the path in front of them, a dozen questions racing through his mind all at once.

Why couldn't anything just be easy?

"Because we did?" Asterik muttered quietly, but shutting down. It was rare for her to be so quiet, but given the circumstances even this seemed rather normal. If Lance couldn't get the image out of his head, Asterik certainly could never wash the feeling of dread as she picked up the pokemon, its body limp and unresponsive, and felt blood leaking out over her hands.

Lance sighed deeply, quietly deciding to let out the psychic member of his original team-- the small purple cat, both forks at the end of its tail twitching as he was let out. It wasn't hard for it to realize that both trainers were preoccupied -- and stressed out, not to mention.

With a small "Espiii", he leapt onto his trainer's shoulder, nuzzling his cheek slightly.

"Thanks Amnesia," Lance sighed, petting the velvet-like fur of the Espeon, though he fell silent again as he walked on.

With the rising sun normally came feelings of hope for a new day. However, the sun over Sytar seemed ignorant that Pokemon life seemed absent, despite the many trees and the tall grasses to make their home. With a view of the path ahead, uncomforted by the decent weather and gentle trail, silence lasted the entire way there.


	4. 3: Loss

"Grature Town," Lance announced, breaking the silence as they walked past the town-limits sign. "Well, it's better than Relar," the Johto champion remarked, putting his hands behind his head. It was true-- at least there were people in the streets in this town, despite it not being much larger than Relar. The off-white pokemon lab was in plain sight, on the corner of two streets a couple blocks away, seeing as it was... well, labeled as such.

"Could be worse," Anubis remarked, popping out of his pokeball once more, having taken his time to think. "I mean, at least you can't smell anything dead here," the dog remarked with a dry, sarcastic laugh.

"Not funny," muttered the Kanto champion, though having to break into a smile. At least seeing people made her feel better, instead of the area that just seemed dead and kept reminding her of the bird pokemon. She found herself looking at one woman, who meekly lowered her glance at the spark of confidence the trainer held. These people, like the ones in Relar, gave signs of life but no such hint of truly living.

"Wow," Lance muttered in barely above a whisper. "These people-- you can feel it... they really don't have a lot of hope, do they?"

"None at all," the Rukario answered after a moment, his ears twitching. "It's got to be damn bad shit, most people are--"

"Egotistical?" Lance suggested with a bit of sarcasm. The canine wasn't exactly known for his modesty...

"Well, I was going to say full of foolish certainty, but that works too," Anubis agreed, folding his arms slightly as he scooped up his own pokeball from the dirt, narrowly avoiding getting stepped on by a passerby, who was evidently in a hurry to get out of the streets. In fact, most people did, unless they couldn't move too quickly.

_Of course it does_, Sally 'muttered', the butterfree having traveled on her own, fed up with needing to stay in a pokeball.

After another pause, Asterik rummaged through her pack to pull out the map of the region she had found, crumpled and dirty, but still usable. "Well, 's a dead end from here, so if we want to get home, we need to head back to- whatsitsname." She paused to read it from the map, displaying the fact that... Well, she was horrible at remembering names. "Relar."

Rolling it up, she took the moment to express what she had been thinking while continuing to walk. "I... Lance- you can go home if you'd like. I'm staying here," she announced, "To figure out what's wrong. Why pokemon are being-" A lump in her throat that needed to be swallowed, "Killed. If you don't want to, fine by me, but..."

"What do you think I am?" Lance asked quietly, though he shook slightly as he walked, staring at his feet. "I'm not a wuss, though people tend to think I am. And there's no reason that this should be happening." At this, the Johto champion growled slightly. "The natural order is being disrupted... while it can be good, like the alliance between pokemon and humans... nobody wins in this," he muttered, looking up before looking over at the bird trainer. "There's something wrong here. What kind of respect for pokemon would I have if I didn't get my ass in gear?" Lance inquired, before smiling slightly. "I'm sticking around."

"Then hey, looks like I'm not going back to Sinnoh after all," Anubis remarked-- he had intended to part ways with the trainers once they left back for their homes. He grinned, making one paw into a fist and punching his other palm, careful not to allow his hand-spike to impale his other paw. "Time to kick ass."

Asterik gave a genuine smile to the both of them, nodding. "Glad to hear it- Well, not the whole disrupting-nature part, but... That you're on-board." A pause, "I wouldn't've let you leave, anyway," she joked, "Just thought I'd put the option out there."

_Right, and I'm a human_, Sally remarked, as Asterik stopped walking, turning on the spot.

"You ARE?"

_Oh, shut up._ muttered the butterfly pokemon as her trainer gave a light chuckle and continued walking.

"So can we get our pokedexes to-- whatsisname, Sequoia," Lance remarked, pulling his characteristic scarf out of his messenger bag, tying it around his neck as he walked. "And get on the road?" he asked as he flipped the two loose ends of the scarf over his shoulder, his voice back to its normal quiet tone. He picked up his walking pace just a bit, quickly arriving at the greyish-white building that was their destination.

Arriving literally seconds after him, feet still sore from trudging through the snow [which could slow someone without shoes down considerably, Asterik held open the door for both other trainers and the pokemon that accompanied them, then stepped in, herself.

Without a word, Lance walked in, Anubis remarking in a singsong voice about "Follow the Leader". The dog understood exactly how bad a situation this was...

But he was all but addicted to fighting, and finding out he had the chance to kick ass -- and lots of it -- was an excellent revelation.

"Alright, where are you..." Lance muttered, looking around. The lab had a bit lesser quality than the others they had been in-- the lights flickered and it was less organized, but still quite decent, above most places.

"Well this is different," Asterik remarked, taking her first tenative steps in with the psy pokemon sitting on her shoulder, feet tapping on the somewhat-grimy tiles. It seemed as if someone hadn't cleaned in ages. "Just a bit of sprucing up and this place'd look pretty good..."

"I don't know, the mess sort of has a homey feel," Lance remarked, his voice having only a hint of sarcasm. It was true-- his home in Blackthorn had an amazing tendency of being a tremendous mess. Comes from cleaning on maybe only a once-every-six-months basis.

"Ack," a new voice remarked, as a man -- perhaps around 30, 35 years old -- kicked himself out on a wheeled chair, blinking a couple times. "Ah," he said, quickly cleaning his glasses. "I expect you're the trainers Rowan sent off on a pokedex expedition, yes? Probably here to give me the pokedex data due to the crash of our communicatons..."

Well, at least they didn't have to explain themselves.

"Uh... Yeah," Asterik muttered, giving the professor an odd glance before handing him her pokedex. He seemed somewhat familiar, in that weird sense, but she couldn't place a finger on it.

_What's with the nut? _Sally asked in a private mental channel to the trainers, _A couple turns short of the poffin?_

"Doubted," both the Johto champion and the dog said (quietly) at roughly the same time, shrugging before Lance handed the professor, who had pushed himself on his computer chair over before taking the small computer-like device, pushing himself (backwards) back to a table before finally standing up, adjusting his glasses again.

"Don't get yourself caught up on speeches, by the way," Sequoia added, plugging the two pokedexes into his computer briefly to upload the data, before truly tossing the electronic encyclopedias back to their owners. "You can get going now, if you want, you know. Just a hinderance, you know?"

"... but a bit odd," Anubis admitted, blinking.

"Well, uh- nice to meet you," Asterik fumbled before turning back to the others and shrugging, picking up the pace to hold the door for them. Sally gave a mental laugh at her attempts at being nice, returning to her pokeball since nothing of importance seemed to be happening at the moment.

"I'm going in," Anubis remarked as soon as they walked out, instantly dissolving into red light that was absorbed by the pokeball he had on his own waist, which was then picked up by Lance, who returned it to his spot on his belt.

"You still have the map?" Lance inquired as he began to walk back towards the end of town, looking over at the Kanto champion. Yet he really didn't need it; he knew that they had passed a crossroads a mile or two back, indicating the path to the next city. But still-- never hurt to have a map.

"Yeah," the Kanto champion affirmed as she pulled said map from her pack once more, giving the dirt-encrusted features a once-over before handing it to Lance. "Where do you think we should go from here? I mean- the first thing would be to go to a gym, wouldn't it?"

A teen, not much younger than they, gasped at that. "No- no, don't go to a gym!"

"... Excuse me?" Asterik muttered, looking back at the blue-haired, wild-eyed person who seemed to care enough to try and warn them. Judging by the blue, she had at least a spark of defiance.

"I don't know- I've heard of bad things that happen at gyms," explained the kid, "Really bad things. You two seem... Nice. Good. Like change." A pause as he admired the way they stood out in vibrant colour against the grey-washed town. "But," he quickly muttered, "I wouldn't go if I were you."

"I don't think we have to be afraid of much," Lance remarked quietly, trying to avoid eye contact with the warner -- he was still shy as hell, after all. But he sighed, pulling out a red and white ball from his messenger bag; the oldest one he had, as it was battered, scratched, and generally mutilated; but the drop of water marking on it still showed faintly. His Feraligatr; bad memories abound, but equaled out by good ones.

There really wasn't too much to worry about as long as he had him, as far as he was concerned.

"Still- if you're dead-set on it..." The kid frowned, cautiously pointing to a town on the map. "The closest gym is located here, in Hetauf." She then backed away, offering a sad smile. "It'll be good to see people coming back from there and being able to speak about it. Good luck, and if you need me, find me. I'm Kaelah," and then skittered away.

"Geez, talk about flighty," Asterik muttered, "But I wonder what's so bad about the gyms that it scared 'er so much..."

"I wouldn't doubt too much," Lance reminded her, sighing slightly. "This place is odd, so who knows...?" But he shook his head slightly, putting the ball back into his bag and putting his hands behind his head. "Let's just get going," he finalized, falling silent. As soon as it kicked in what they were doing-- he had found himself at a loss for words in all essence. Despite the fact that he didn't talk too much anyway-- he had just gotten used to talking to the bird trainer, but even then.

"Yeah," Asterik agreed as she folded up the map once more. "Hetauf, huh? Watch me forget it in a matter of minutes," she grumbled to herself, continuing to walk in silence. As the two travelers moved along, so did the sun - It had already reached the climax a while ago and was now fading, giving the true impression that Sytar held: Dark and gloomy, every stretching shadow holding a possible answer but many more questions to go with it.

"I have to say," he remarked after a while, frowning slightly. "This place is kind of creepy at night..."

He wasn't afraid of the dark -- he never had been, which was why he had managed to find his way through several pitch-black caves before without illumination. Despite the fact that it DID take a while. But yet... the dark here was odd. It genuinely DID freak him out.

"This is the... unnerving dark," Asterik tried to illustrate, "Like- normal dark is fine. But... This is forboding. Like you know something bad's gonna happen in this dark. As gloomy as it is normally, I'd take day-Sytar over night..."

"Gee, how poetic," Lance remarked in sarcasm, sighing and looking up at the darkening sky, frowning slightly; he simply had a bad feeling. Really, he didn't know why... but he did.

"Never said I was a poet," Asterik gave in a slight laugh, though falling silent, herself.

Of course, the forboding seemed well-deserved. In the shadows, a team of two crouched. The newcomers seemed strong- unharrowed by living in the region. "We must stop them," hissed one of the figures, shifting silently in the undergrowth, "I'll take the guy, you can take that chick..."

"Stop acting so serious about it," the second member replied quietly, crouching down as the other was. "You're not the one sitting on a bramble patch..." He paused, watching the two trainers on the road. "They can't be from here. They've got way too much... well, you know... _life_ in them." However, he grinned. "Which means they've got rare pokemon. And they're probably experienced trainers... I think we hit the motherload, pal..."

"Well move," grumbled the other, then breaking into a smirk, himself. "Not only rare pokemon, but high-leveled? Not only the motherload, then- we hit SO much more than that! This'll be the best haul we've had in a long time- most of the people we get are the ones who're fresh out of the crazy professor's lab with maybe two pokemon, max!"

"Why do we rob people HERE, anyway?" the second asked after a minute, looking skeptically at the other. "I mean, if most people just have one or two pokemon..."

However, he paused. Best not to question the directives from the bosses. "Can we get on with what we're supposed to do?" he asked, trying to move from his uncomfortable brambly seat without being noticed.

"Asterik, do you hear something?" Lance asked suddenly, stopping in his tracks.

"I guess it's to stop the trainers from having any hope? Yannow- when they first start off they thing they're gonna be something big and then-" he paused when Lance spoke, staring out of the bushes at his target.

"Yeah," she whispered, but "No," followed it, louder for whatever it was to hear. "C'mon, let's just keep going."

Lance sighed, putting his hands back behind his head as he began walking again, keeping alert however, though his gaze was fixed on the sky. This place... was just so odd.

"Let's just get on with it," the second said, looking carefully at the bird trainer that was his target. They were about to cross their hiding spot... so it was better now than later. "On the count of three... one, two..."

"Three!" whisper-yelled the first robber, jumping out from the bushes to ambush the trainers. No- not a pokemon battle- he knew he would be hurt and badly defeated in one of those. But a trainer couldn't battle if they didn't have their Pokemon. Expertly snatching the balls from Lance's belt and shoving them in his pockets before the trainer could realize what was happening, he ran off, not waiting for his partner but planning on meeting up afterwords to share what they had gotten as he took care of the other champion.

Though the other one was a bit slower, he had the same exacty strategy-- though he waited for the bird trainer to blink. In the space of a few seconds, he had completely stolen the bird trainer's pokemon, dashing after his partner as fast as he could. Sure, they weren't the brightest bulbs... but... they could steal. That was the point.

"..." Lance stood for a moment, speechless, shaking slightly.

This... no, this was bad.

He had never been anywhere, in all almost-eight years of his pokemon training, without Rune's pokeball at the ready. After a moment of utter silence, he hissed a very simple three words.

"They _DIE NOW_."

And considering his usual demeanor... this would likely be a bit odd.

After almost seven years of having Flame by her side, the world suddenly... shrunk. Without the charizard and gyrados and the three legendary birds and even Sally... "Oh my GOD," she muttered, lip curling. Then, another three very simple words.

"I second that."

He was swearing quite fluently-- words that almost never crossed his mind, pouring out of him in a torrent.

And yet, despite all of it, there was only one thing on his mind.

They had no pokemon. They were... in a word... screwed. Unless-- oh god, not that again, he growled inwardly, shaking his head.

"We have to go back to Grature," he announced after a minute, obviously trying to cover up the fact that his voice was shaking, pulling his scarf down from over his mouth as it had been moments before.

"Get... New starters..." She muttered under her breath, the rage that fueled the fire gone, leaving a hollow emptiness in its place. "And get our Pokemon back." Silent for another moment, the... ex-bird trainer turned on her heel, going back to the town they had just left, even her footsteps having taken on a hush as if Sytar had already started to work on making her as dull and lifeless as its inhabitants.

Lance, however, had a completely different attitude. Gone for the time being was the quiet boy he normally was; replacing it was his own inner fire.

His passion for pokemon was almost scary sometimes. "We are going to get new starters and kick their asses," the Johto Champion muttered, eye twitching, "or we die trying."

This attitude would dissolve by the time they reached Grature, or at least by the time they reached the lab... and he would, as usual, be somewhat scared that had acted that way at all.

Oh well.


	5. 4: Starting Over

If the light was fading by the time Asterik and Lance were robbed of their Pokemon, it was a comparable midnight upon reaching Sequoia's lab once more and barging in - though, admittedly, the door was left unlocked so 'barging' wasn't the right word.

"Professor," called the Kanto trainer, voice missing the spark there had been when they last spoke, "Professor... Sequoia?"

Perhaps the most amazing thing of the night was she remembered his name.

"You remembered his name," Lance remarked after a moment, before... well, to break the mood, he was crashed straight into by the man who had a tendency to prefer his computer chair to walking. If his anger had resided, it hadn't. He was still in a determined mood, but he had ceased showing it outwardly. As he was.

"Um, Professor--" he muttered, his scarf back around his mouth. It was cold at night here, he noticed; abnormally so, despite how warm it had been earlier.

"Oh, you're back," Seqouia remarked, adjusting his glasses as he looked at the two trainers, before kicking his chair out of the way as he stood up.

"For a good reason, too," Muttered the bird trainer as she pulled the faded brown jacket closer around her shoulders, "Our Pokemon- were-" She gave a small choke on the word, needing to swallow down emotion once more, "Stolen. Do you know about the thieves who're around here?"

"Ah," Sequoia muttered, frowning slightly. "That's why not many people become trainers around here..." he mumbled, adjusting his glasses. "A lot of people... well, they get their pokemon stolen by people from that organization... or have them killed by them," he added as a sidenote, causing the Johto champion's heart to leap into his throat.

"That's illegal, isn't it?" Lance asked quickly, frowning. "It's against the agreement pokemon and trainers have, we can't make our attacks lethal--!"

"Things work differently here," Sequoia said... as if they needed a reminder. "Those with power stay in power. Those without... well, they just have the hope that their pokemon don't die. Or that they won't get killed, themselves. Odd, isn't it?"

The way he spoke so nonchalantly... was almost creepy. But he, like the rest... he knew it was no use to object. It was just the way things were.

Lance didn't respond, as he cringed slightly, the feeling that he might vomit rising on him.

"What?" Asterik gave in a little laugh, "Oh bloody-" A few choice words she gave utterance to here, the feeling of hopelessness only rising. But- Like the champion she was...

The bird trainer opened her eyes, which had been squeezed shut, and she fought back tears and emptying her stomach. "Starters," she hissed, "Do you think we can have new Pokemon? Even if you would, I'm not standing around doing nothing while the people-" Note, she said people- "I grew up with might DIE. Please, Professor...?"

"I could," Seqouia muttered. "I'm not sure they'd help you too much, but... if you want--"

"We do," Lance answered for both of them, not waiting for the professor to finish his sentence. "They're my friends," he said quietly, his face turning slightly pink. "Even if I'm marching in with a level five, it's better than nothing, isn't it?"

"True, yes," Sequoia commented, though he turned to go briefly. However, in a moment, the professor returned, holding a small burlap sack.

From out of three balls sprang the three starting Pokemon. One, the one with a leaf etched on it, hatched out a small green raccoon Pokemon, leaves from its shoulderblades like Blake's had been. A teracoon- the first pokemon the two trainers had seen from the region.

From the ball marked with a flame came a small... cat. However, instead of being red, its coat was a deep blue colour, seeming like it should be more of an ice pokemon than any fire, even though the blue flames on its tail burned hot.

And finally, from the pokeball marked with a water droplet, an amphibious-looking lizard was brought forth, the ridge of spined on its head lowered first in fear and raised for curiosity as it examined the two trainers.

"Teracoon, Gromew, and Glizan," Sequoia labeled the three tiny pokemon, waiting for their prospective trainers to choose. "I wouldn't pick the gromew," he offered to the side, "Shinies aren't looked upon too kindly around here."

"This is going to be interesting," Lance sighed, but looking at the one the professor called Glizan. He had to admit... reptillian water-type. There was a certain familarity, despite how glaringly different it was from the Totodile he had chosen almost eight years ago.

He sighed, looking over at Asterik, before back to the professor; for once, his choice was made very quickly, as opposed to the time it took him to choose when they were in Sinnoh. "Glizan," he said quietly, kneeling down to be as close to eye level as he could be with the water-type starter.

"Gromew," Asterik near-announced with defiance as the blue cat looked up in suprise. Wings flapping a bit, he leaped up fluidly to the table and then Asterik's shoulder, the fact he was a fire-type and had a flame on his tail rather comforting, in a way. Reminded her of Flame.

Sequoia cleared his throat slightly, picking up and stroking the head of the unchosen grass type. "You both chose the shinies," the professor remarked, recalling the teracoon into its ball. "Just... remember," he warned, cleaning his glasses on his shirt. "I don't know what it's like where you come from, but here, having a shiny isn't going to do you any favors."

Lance shrugged one shoulder, watching the Glizan carefully. "Your point?" he asked after a moment, looking up at the professor as the reptillian pokemon climbed into the Johto champion's arms, whether it was wanted there or not.

"Thank you, professor," Asterik muttered, scratching her new partner behind his ear. Agni, as his new name held, gave a low purr. "Even if they are shinies, I'm sure they'll help..."

Lance paused for a moment, petting the Glizan absentmindedly, a low growl of content escaping her mouth. Mizu, he decided on the water-type's name. Simple enough.

And she had reason to be happy... due to the shiny trait, she and the fire-type had a tendency of not being chosen when the rare new trainers came along.

"And either way," the Johto champion muttered, setting his new pokemon down on the ground, still kneeling. "This place is too messed up for us to observe all of your crazy habits, isn't it?"

"Nor would I want to," Asterik muttered quietly, taking the cat off of her shoulders and into her arms. A pause as she frowned, "Lance- it'd probably be best if we..." A grimace, "Found a place to stay for the night. It just doesn't feel safe sleeping outside..."

"You sleep outside?" Inturrupted Sequoia, amazed at this.

"Eight years," Lance replied, taking the pokeball that Mizu was held in and recalling her into. "Almost eight years, and I haven't slept in a town unless there was no alternative. Maybe about... fifteen, twenty times?" He sighed, but nodded at the ex-bird trainer as he clipped Mizu's ball onto his belt.

The professor raised both eyebrows, amazed. That was something NO sane person in Sytar ever did-- it was what kept people on the roads until they found a town, probably why there were so many towns across the reigon. Pokemon theives, the Organization, wild pokemon -- it was unsafe.

"More than," Asterik muttered, "I slept outside all the time back before I started with Pokemon..." She didn't recall the blue cat into his pokeball, but clipped it on her belt anyway. "But- mind pointing us in the direction of a hotel or something?"

Noting her bare feet as she spoke and realizing that- yeah, she seemed the kind to do such that, the professor cleared his throat and started, "Just a little ways down the street is a hotel, yes... The fees are moderately high, but what can you expect?" A pause as, in a slight state of jest, "You two aren't sharing a room, now, are you?"

"We are," Asterik intoned, voice flat. Really, why didn't people understand platonic relationships nowadays?

Lance twitched slightly, the pink tone his face took on being hidden by his drawn-up scarf.

"I wouldn't worry," he informed the professor, who tilted his head slightly. Lance hesitated slightly; best to just out and say it, he supposed. "I'm _gay_, sir."

"Ah," he replied, nodding slightly. Well, at least that little concern was out of the way.

"So, as I said," the man declared, pointing off in the direction the hotel was. "That-a-way. You won't have much competition, not many people travel in Sytar..."

"Thank you," Asterik offered once more before withdrawing Agni and starting out, before... Frowning at the telepathic signals sent out.

_Are there any ratty-looking trainers by the names of Lance and Asterik around? _called a familiar 'voice' as the sound of wings fluttering carried through the still of the night.

"They look like idiots and they have some sense of hope around them! THEY MUST STICK OUT LIKE SORE THUMBS!" Anubis called, cupping his paws over his mouth as he yelled.

The guy could be an air raid siren in terms of volume.

"That can't be..." Lance remarked, jumping at the barking voice of the Rukario, his thought left unfinished. And people, lifeless as they seemed to be, were sticking their heads out of windows and adding to the commotion by yelling as well, just so it would end and they could get to sleep.

"You assholes," Asterik near-laughed as she sped up to nearly crush the butterfree in a hug once located. Sally, of course, squirmed and complained the entire way, even if she did enjoy seeing her trainer once more. "Do you know what happened to the others?"

_No- I just got glimpses of the dudes that took them before they ran, leaving Anubis and I,_ Sally informed once she was let out of the deathgrip.

"Anubis," Lance said, running up behind Asterik, but he resisted the urge to give the dog a bear hug. "Same question."

"I couldn't do anything," the canine admitted, frowning. "I didn't see what happened; we didn't have time to do anything but get out of there."

Lance paused, looking over at Asterik, before speaking. "Guess we're not completely screwed after all."


	6. 5: Day's End

Upon arrival at the hotel and asking for a room, Asterik nodded and paid for the night with the "Small" collection of cash she had gotten from battling around Sinnoh. It would need to be used sparingly, here. "Room three-oh-four," she muttered quietly, leading the way through dimly-lit corridors. When the room number had been reached, she inserted the key and turned, revealing a small room with two beds and a seperate room for a bathroom. With a small mutter of "This is worth 500 bucks?", she sat on one of the beds to think, feeling so out of place voluntarily staying the night inside.

"Are our lives worth 500 pokebucks?" Lance countered quietly as he stepped into the room after her, Anubis following quietly. "I'd rather pay a fortune than sleep outside right now," he sighed, looking around. The room was white and shades of beige; it was hardly attractive, but at the thought of being killed in his sleep, he thought better of criticising it.

It was so odd to him, though... for once, he was glad to be inside. The cold of the night he could handle; just not the way the air felt, the still, dead feeling about it.

"You make a valid point," the dog pokemon remarked. He had recalled himself to his pokeball until merely a moment ago, when they had come to the room. Anubis sighed, walking over to and gazing out the window.

"Touche," Asterik shrugged, the female trainer rather lost as Sally once more came out of her pokeball and fluttered over her shoulder in a certain way that demanded attention.

Despite how draining emotionally and physically the day had been, even when she let herself fall to her side on one of the beds, Asterik felt none of the presence of sleep. Perhaps it'd be just another sleepless night, even if they were planning on seeing a gym leader about a badge or something of the sort tomorrow. With Agni having apparently picked up on the bad habit of poking out of his pokeball, he mewled and sat in front of his trainer, a warm paw on her cheek.

"Agniiii," she near-whined, batting away at the fire cub's paw, but being forced to crack a smile. "Anyway, if there's anything you guys want to talk about, now's the time..."

Lance paused, taking a seat on the other bed, pulling his knees up to his chest, looking at his feet before he spoke, untying his scarf.

"Guys?" he asked, looking between the Kanto champion and the rukario, frowning a bit. "You think we're gonna make it through this godforsaken hellhole?" he finished rather bluntly; his voice wasn't as quiet as it normally would be; in fact, it had taken on some of the harshness it had when he fought as his Glizan popped out of her pokeball, borrowing her way onto his lap.

Gee, snuggle-whore of a pokemon, much?

"That's what 'die trying' means, hun," Asterik muttered softly, having forgotten that... Well, she was speaking to another human, and much more, one she respected incredibly. The habit of calling people small petnames was odd, but.

_So somehow you turned pessimistic?_ Sally muttered to her trainer, sighing mentally and dropping to sit on the bed.

He shrugged one shoulder, petting Mizu's head absentmindedly, not really in the mood to remark. "True," Lance admitted quietly, staring into space, petting the water starter with one hand while brushing his pale hair out of his brown eyes, staring out the window above Anubis' head.

"Look on the bright side," the Rukario tried to cheer them up, "You have us at least. We can kick most people's asses."

... and THERE was his ego.

_It's true,_ Sally gave in a small smile, _With the time we've been in Sinnoh, as well as our homes- we're really strong Pokemon, eh?_

"True," Asterik admitted.

"But--"

"Stop being so negative," Anubis interrupted, smirking. "I may not know you as well--- as some others," (he was wise enough not to mention the names of the partners that had they had been separated from just earlier that day) "But I know you're way too negative, Lancey-boy. If we die, hey, at least we died trying. One thing I learned from my first trainer is to fight like a motherfu-- well, you get my point --- until you lose. And who knows, if you survive losing, you might get a change for the better."

"And if you don't survive?" Lance asked, his inner skeptic showing.

"Well, that's life, innit?"

"No, apparently in this region, that's death," Asterik muttered, having turned to lay on her back, Agni curling up on her stomach. "But, same difference, right?"

"Life is death, yanno," Anubis pointed out, taking a seat on the windowsil. "Because without death, what's life? Without chaos, what's peace? Visa-versa works too, of course. Death's just a part of life." The dog paused, going into a digression. "Either way, none of us should fear death; we fear what we do not understand and what is uncertain, and dying is neither of those, for we all die someday.

"You can stop now, Anubis," Lance pointed out, sighing slightly in exasperation.

"Please do," muttered the bird-trainer, eyes closed.

_Might wanna hit them with high-level thinking when they're not spazzing,_ Sally offered, _Doesn't seem to be having any effect now._

"Oh, cheer up," Anubis muttered, putting his paws behind his head. "The worst that can happen is that we'll die, which isn't that bad. As I just went over," he muttered, his ears twitching as he leaned against the window, looking out of it out of the side of his eye.

The acceptance of death; he had come too close to it too many times to be afraid anymore. There was just no point to it.

The speeches he could give wouldn't do much... but hey.

"I think it's best," Lance said, breaking the short silence. "If the lot of us just get to sleep..."

_Way ahead of you,_ Sally 'muttered' as she returned to her pokeball.

"G'night, guys, I guess. See you in the morning," Asterik offered, as, with one eye opened, she reached out to turn off the light. After all, even with the lights out, it was still light enough to somewhat see, as there was a dim 'nightlight' apparatus in the space next to its larger counterpart.

Lance sighed slightly as Anubis recalled backi into his pokeball, laying back on the matress, his hands cushioning his head more than the stiff, cheap pillows given by the hotel.

The rukario's words-- true as they were-- weren't the best thing to fall asleep on. Thus, he occupied his mind for a few minutes, before closing his eyes, a sigh escaping him. And yet... he didn't fall asleep. He almost couldn't. His mind was racing and didn't want to slow down; trying to take in everything that had happened in that short day.

This place would be hell.

When morning finally came, extending pale fingers to wipe the darkness out of its eyes but greywashing its inhabitants once more, Asterik gave a small twitch and rose, yawning, hair a mess. Out of sleep-filled eyes, she noted that she was the first to wake- Lance still lay asleep on his bed, and even Agni slept. Gently moving the cat off of herself, the trainer swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat for a moment. True to character, even with the threat of Sytar around, she remained slow to wake up, and even slower for her brain to make the connections and figure what was happening. Finally doing so enough to stand and look through her pack at the rations, the bird-trainer frowned slightly at the fact that, while pokeballs were abundant [she bought in bulk and often had left over, the healing supplies were not. Two revives graced her pack - good luck they would do bringing back from the dead, she thought sarcastically - as well as two potions, with saving her super potions for when the pokemon were strong enough to have said HP.

Sitting back on her bed, the redhead gave a small sigh before going to check out the bathroom for anything of possible use in the wild. Finding nothing, she shut the door and sat on the toilet, merely thinking to herself about what to do, taking slight solace that, at least in here, the rising sun made the gloom sink away and actually gave her a bit of hope.

They would do this. They would find out what was wrong with this region; they would get their partners back.

Eventually, at least.


	7. 6: Getting On

Lance was the next to awake, temporarily staring up at the ceiling, his Glizan still curled up on his chest. However, she opened her eyes, tilting her head at him slightly but crawling off so he could sit up. He slowly stroked her head, looking over to notice that Asterik had already gotten out of bed, though Agni still slept where she had occupied. She was obviously still around.

Anubis opened one eye; he had been awake, and yet, faking the illusion of sleep was nothing new to him. He had kept his place in the windowsill, paws still behind his head. "Morning, beeyotch," he greeted, closing his eye again.

"You certainly are an angel to wake up to," the Johto champion muttered, sighing slightly as once again the water-type starter crawled onto his lap.

Opening the bathroom door and stepping out, Asterik gave a small smile to the assembled people and Pokemon. "G'morning," she offered, voice not sleep-riddled which was a good indicator she had been up for a while. Sitting on the bed and petting Agni, the blue firecat waking up with a mixture between a purr and a mewl, Asterik started.

"I was just thinking- Before we leave here, we need supplies. I've gathered that Sytar doesn't get a lot of new trainers or trainers at all- so we'd need to ask around for the thing most similar to a Pokemart, here. I'd think they had herbal things instead of the potions we're used to- nobody buys them, why carry 'em?" A pause as she let this sink in. Not only were they on unfriendly ground without their pokemon, they would need to get used to using various new items with which to heal.

"It'd be best to get going as early as possible, but I'm not gonna rush- I know it takes me a while to wake up," she laughed quietly at the understatement, "So if we take at most half an hour mucking around in the room to wake up, I'd figure we can be out of town after getting what we can before the sun gets too high, and try going to the next town."

"What's the town called... Hetauf?" he asked as he began shaking his head to wake himself up, quickly digging the map out of Asterik's bag uninvited. "Yeah, Hetauf, the first gym... after that," Lance remarked, tracing his finger along the map. "I'm not sure, since this entire damn place is confusing, but it looks like the first big city in the place..."

He paused. "Barrade, I think... but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," he added, shrugging slightly.

"You're right, though," Anubis said to Asterik, standing up. "I didn't notice any pokemarts and we went around the entire town yelling for you... but it shouldn't take long to get out of..."

"Fine, go into my bag, whydon't'cha?" Asterik muttered, though obviously joking. A nod to Anubis, though, as Sally seemed it was time to join them. The trainer nodded once more, continuing, "I'm sure someone would help us out here- like that one girl we saw who tried to warn us away from the gym?"

"We should also buy a better map," Lance added, handing the demolished map to the other trainer with a sigh.

"I don't think most people here have a qualm, they're just scared... of us, or something else," Anubis remarked, folding his arms. "Not sure which..."

_Both_, Sally offered questioningly, as Asterik shoved the tattered map into her bag once more before shrugging it over a shoulder, running a hand as best she could through her hair.

"I don't know about you," Asterik reminded, "But we're going to have to use money sparingly. It doesn't seem like there're many trainers around to battle and get it from- even then, I don't think it'd be the wisest thing to do 'round here."

"Agreed," Lance responded, nodding. He hadn't picked up a great amount of money in Sinnoh, and that which he did, he spent along with his backup. That, paired with the fact that he couldn't go back home to get any of the money he kept there... well, by his standards, he was running dry.

"... this isn't going to be pretty, is it?" Anubis asked, chuckling slightly.

_Nope,_ Sally laughed, _But while we haven't exactally been through worse, we DO have teams Rocket and Galactic under our belts..._

"But that's not saying much," Lance pointed out, "because Rocket were a bunch of farfetch'd."

"But Galactic weren't," Anubis retorted, smirking. "Of course, they were idiots, but they were COMPETANT idiots..."

"Not all of Rocket was," Asterik muttered quietly, but shrugged. "Ah well- The most we can do is hope, and get going. As said, I'm ready when you are.

"All the ones I came in contact with were," Lance replied, rubbing the back of his head. "At least in battle... poison type is pretty useless on its own..." he went off into his own small digression, before blinking.

"Yeah... let's just get going, shall we?" he said after a moment, the dog greeting him with a nod and smirk. "Mizu, return," he added, recalling the reptile back into her ball.

"True," Asterik conceeded, letting Agni jump up onto her shoulder. It seemed to be a special treat for the cat, who smiled in his own way, tail flicking. "But there were some who had some common sense. Ah well-" she stood, going over to the door and fishing for the key, making sure she could return it. Sally returned to her Pokeball as her trainer moved to go out.

"Anubis, y'mind?" he asked, indicating the pokeball the dog carried.

"Not a problem, compadre," Anubis chuckled, recalling himself, dissolving into red light, going into the red and white sphere that Lance picked up, nodding at Asterik before following her out of the room, his mind racing from idea to idea.

Upon returning the key to the lady behind the counter, thanking her, the female trainer walked out and...

Smack-dab into someone.

"Oh- I'm sorry-" she offered, having remained standing, though the person hadn't. Looking down to offer a hand and another sorry, her eyes landed on the child from before, known as Izzy. He looked up at her in fear, before his hazel eyes softened and he offered a smile.

"Fancy running into you again," Izzy started, picking himself up. Somehow he looked... worse. His white clothes were dirtier, more ripped, and his skin more caked in grime, as if more people had pushed him over much in the fashion Asterik just had.

"What happened to you?" Lance asked quietly, raising an eyebrow at the boy from before.

"He got roughed up?" Anubis suggested, popping out again, shrugging his shoulder. There was a bit of an odd feeling he had about Izzy, though he couldn't tell quite what; his aura was just a bit odd. Stronger than most people's, he noted inwardly.

"What Anubis said, it's kinda common around here," Izzy shrugged, though inwardly hitting himself for saying the Pokemon's name. Ah well, he could flub it-

"How do you know his name?" Asterik asked. Yes, he would need to.

"I overheard you talking to him, when I saw you in Relar," Izzy shrugged before changing the subject in the most graceful manner he could think of. "So, you need anything?"

"Yeah, if you could direct us to a place where we could get some healing supplies," Lance muttered, "It'd be great."

"Oh, uh-" A pause as Izzy ruffled his hair, only succeeding in making it messier. "Y'see that alley over there? If you cut through it, the first building to your right is a small shop. If not, you'd have to go around this row of buildings, but it's still basically the same. Want me to show you there?"

"If you wouldn't mind," Anubis remarked, nodding. "All the buildings look the same, at least to me," he muttered, frowning.

"You're not alone," Lance added, brushing a bit of his hair out of his eyes to see better, looking around him, still somewhat preoccupied.

Izzy nodded, "Follow me, then," He offered and, making sure the group was, indeed, following, started off toward the alley he described. Asterik, in thought [definately noticing that there was something off about the kid but deciding to ignore it, followed without question. After all, he seemed honest enough, even if he was weird.

"You notice anything off about that kid?" Lance inquired of the Kanto champion quietly, covering his mouth with his scarf. Not only good for hiding his face, but to conceal that he was talking, watching Izzy quietly.

"If I didn't, I'd tell you to smack me," she muttered, letting Izzy pull ahead a bit.

"Shame that I can't," Lance muttered in a joking tone, shrugging slightly.

Asterik merely gave him a playful sneer, chuckling.

"Ah," Anubis remarked after a moment, as they stopped outside of a small building; reasonable that he couldn't see it, as the small wooden sign, aside from its size, was fairly dark, hard to distinguish the text from the wood in plain daylight.

"That might be it," Lance remarked dryly, indicating the small wooden "shop" sign.

"And it is," Izzy offered in a small chuckle, then nodded. "An' this is where I leave you- I'm sure we'll see each other again, eh?"

"Yeah- Thanks, Iz," Asterik smiled, as the ten-year-old went off by himself once more and she, shrugging, gently pushed open the wooden door.

"As I said," Lance remarked as soon as Izzy was gone and they were inside, looking around at the labels, "what's with that kid?"

"No clue," Anubis responded whether he was wanted or not, the few people inside the store turning to stare at the talking pokemon.

"Just seems off," Asterik agreed, when she was greeted by a familiar [somewhat face.

"Hey," smiled the blue-haired girl who had warned them, "You guys need help with anything?"

"Uh- yeah," Asterik muttered, then gave a weak laugh. "Anything here used to heal pokemon?"

"Sure! One second, I'll go get it," And with that Kaelah went into the back, pulling out a couple jars and other such things.

"What are these, exactly?" Lance inquired, looking at the jars almost skeptically. As far as he remembered, most artificial herbal remedies had a tendency of being undesired by pokemon.

"This," Kaelah offered, handing him a jar, "Is a salve. It works for small cuts, healing them almost instantly- and deeper ones, though they take more time. Just take a little bit of the powder and mix it with some water, then spread it on what you need." A pause as she offered up another, this one already in a cream-form, "And this is kinda what I'd assume you'd call a potion- just take a finger-full of this and it'll heal your pokemon considerably- And," she winked, "It has some flavour added so it doesn't taste so bad. Imported oran berry juice!"

Asterik nodded, vaguely impressed, but the kicker came in the form of Kaelah tacking on, "It also works on humans, too, the both of 'em..."

"Okay, so that one's odd," Lance muttered, blinking a couple times. "And, err, how much, exactly, does this stuff cost?" he muttered, his mind going back to the amount of money it would be safe to spend at once. Not a lot...

"Two-fifty for each," she offered, "So five hundred in total- plus there's the fact that they're multiple-use."

Pulling Lance aside for a second, Asterik muttered, "Cheaper than potions at home, and you probably get ten times more in one jar. Maybe we're not completely screwed over."

"Yeah, but we're probably gonna have to use it a lot, considering where we are," Lance replied skeptically, but his voice was lost, as Anubis grabbed a bit of money out of one of the side-pockets of Lance's messenger bag -- not where most of the money was held --, pulling out the appropriate money.

"I can't speak for the girl," the Rukario said, putting the cash on the counter. "But we'll take them."

Asterik nodded as well, pulling out the five hundred pokedollars - which was really cheap, considering one super potion cost the same amount - and handing it to Kaelah. The girl nodded and handed Lance and Anubis one jar each [of each kind, and the two to Asterik.

"Thank you for your business- is there anything else I can do for you?" Kaelah asked.

"Yeah- what about poisoning and burns and the such?" Asterik asked, thinking ahead.

"The salve for burns- apply it to the skin- and the ingested one for poisoning. It'll take a little while, but it'll work."

"Oh- thank you," Asterik muttered, not knowing how the items could be so handy.

"I do have to ask, though," Lance said quietly, putting the items into his bag, after Anubis placed his own into the bag. "What, exactly, do you make these things from?"

"Various roots and herbs around here- some are growing in the back if you'd like to see- and some are imported from other regions, like the oran berry plant we have growing in the back and other such things." A pause, "All natural, don't worry- it won't hurt your pokemon, nor you if you need to use it on yourself."

He paused, before nodding. There was really no use in arguing; he'd have to take her word on it, even if he had a tad of trouble believing it. Then again, herbal medicines were usually cheap... but he couldn't shake the possibility that they'd have something off with them.

And yet, Lance nodded, turning to go. "Well, nice to do business with you," he muttered, his shyness catching up to him, making him eager to leave.

"See you, Kaelah!" Asterik smiled, Agni on her shoulder giving a mew as she followed Lance outside. "Well, then- head to... uh... Whatsitsname?"

He nodded, deciding to let Mizu out, and she instantly crawled up onto his shoulders. "I wish you wouldn't do that, Anubis," Lance remarked, lightly hitting the dog upside the head.

"What, talk to people after they know I'm with you, or buy shit?" the Rukario asked, grinning. "Because either way, I'm not going to stop doing either."

Sally, who had burst out of her Pokeball as they left, gave a mental chuckle. _That seemed eventful- and now we're going to wander around to see if we can find a wild pokemon? Try to, yannow, level up those guys? _With that, she motioned to Agni, who batted at her.

"Probably wise," Lance said, before pausing for a moment. He had just praised the idea of Sally. He rolled his eyes slightly, before nodding. "Err, looks like we have to go back out, back to where... well, you know," he muttered, staring at the ground for a moment.

"Back to Relar?" Asterik asked quietly. Seeing how rare it was for her to remember names, it seemed the town had burned itself into her memory.

"Well, no," he remarked, looking over at her. "Towards it, but... remember, we passed that road on the way here that went off this route? I think that's the way to... Hetauf, or whatever the hell it was..." he muttered, forgetting the names of the towns, as Asterik had the tendency to do. The more on his mind, the more forgetful he was.

"I allow you to use 'whatsitsname'," Asterik offered in a weak joke, then nodded.

And looked around. Okay, maybe her sense of direction WASN'T so good. "Uh- Geez, where's Izzy when you need him?"

"No clue," Lance responded, hands behind his head. "Not our job to keep track of him, is it...?" he muttered, trailing off in thought.

"Let's haul ass, guys," Anubis cut in, smirking. "The more we dally, the more time it takes to get to where we're going, no?"

"Yeah- thing is- I have no idea where we are," Asterik admitted, as Sally took the initiave to fly up above the buildings and call down.

_Just go through that alley right next to you and turn left- then it's straight, until I can see some tall grass._

"Kickass," Anubis chuckled, punching one palm with his other paw, smirking. "So there are advantages to having you around, Sally, Eh?" he chuckled, immediately setting off. "Last one to the crossroads is a rotten togepi"


	8. Reboot

"Lo and behold!" Anubis said with mock enthusiasm, coming to the sign that had black, worn-out paint upon it, pointing to the north to indicate the direction. "Hetauf: North".

"Gee, how descriptive," Lance remarked quietly, his voice sarcastic as he put his hands behind his head, sighing. "Wonder what kind of gym it is?" he muttered, blinking. Just in case-- it couldn't hurt to catch a couple pokemon, if they could, right?

"I don't know," Asterik shrugged. "But, we should probably worry about getting the pokemon stronger before the gym's type. Oh! While I was waiting for you guys to wake up- I checked out my pokedex..." She took it out from her back pocket, the old-design scratched-up thing looking extremely beaten. "When Whatsisface hooked them up to the computers, they must've gotten updated somehow- I see a gromew and glizan in here already, as well as whatever that bird was." A pause as she scrolled. "Says its name is 'Robyn'. I wonder what other pokemon there are in this region," the thought aloud before slipping the 'dex into her pocket once more.

He shrugged one shoulder, pulling out his own pokedex, noticing the same on his. "You're right," he remarked, reading the information on Glizan briefly, before tucking the device into his pocket again. "Well, at least we'll know if something is going to try to, say, slit our throats when we catch it," he muttered, shrugging one shoulder.

It could be worse... but hey, he was a pessimist.

"Of course," Asterik chuckled, shrugging her jacket off and tying it around her waist, not needing the loose sleeves bugging her hands during battle. "Let's go pokemon-hunting, then- not literally, of course, but..."

A pause as, from the grass a scarce sign of life stirred. A dog-like creature with a rat's tail, its fur white and a pale peach colourin husky-like markings pawed its way out, eyes narrowed. Unused to humans being so close to its territory, the wolrat [As the pokedexes called it gave a low snarl, ears drawn back and tail lashing.

Lance paused, looking at it. This one -- he could tell -- couldn't be very strong, but... "You want to catch it?" he asked, taking Mizu's ball off of his belt. "Because if you're not, I am. Mizu, go," he muttered, the Glizan calling her species name as she materialized on the ground. "They're like the rattatta or the sentret, I'm guessing. We'll see a lot, I'd assume... but still..."

"Go ahead," Asterik allowed, "And yeah, they're only number... fourteen in the local pokedex, and those slots are normally reserved for the common pokemon."

With Mizu out of her pokeball, the wolrat gave another snarl, going to allow the water lizard to make the first move.

"I'm not taking any risks, though, here. Whatever I can get, I'm catching it..." he muttered. This wasn't his normal behavior; mainly he only chose pokemon he was fond of, though not the ones that were always particularly powerful; as per the people constantly preaching that trainers should use their favorites. But... he couldn't take those risks right now. "Mizu, just tackle it," he instructed. OIdly, the harshness his voice usually took on in battle was only barely there; he was uncertain, almost afraid of the road ahead; he couldn't concentrate.

The lizard did as she was instructed, throwing herself at the dog-like creature, growling slightly in an attempt to seem tough.

Asterik nodded as she watched the battle unfold. The doglike pokemon danced out of the way, only its rear end being hit by the tackle, giving it the force to turn and bat at Mizu with outstratched claws as she faced away from his upper body, dull as they were from regular wear and tear.

The lizard gave a bit of a yelp; the dull claws still dug into her side, causing a deal of pain. "Mizu," Lance said quickly. "Do you know how to growl so it won't attack as harshly?" He was rewarded with an apprehensive nod from the reptile, who was rewarded with a bit of a smile. "Good. Then do it, and try to tackle it again without it hitting you..."

At the growl, Mizu's foe paused - often a fatal mistake in Sytar - but as she came towards him in a tackle it gave her just enough time to hit full-on, sending the rat-dog a couple feet back before it recovered and actually ran right at the little dragonet before turning at the last second, hard tail thrashing at her flank.

"I've never seen a tail whip that caused actual damage," Asterik commented in awe. Of course, the wild pokemon probably needed to improvise its attacks to live around here.

Mizu let out a cry again, throwing herself full-body once more at the dog, attempting to use her own tail, but instead unintentionally kicking out at the Wolrat.

"Damn," Lance muttered, raising his eyebrows. "The fights here, even these early ones..." he muttered. "Mizu, back up," he instructed as he pulled a minimixed pokeball out of his bag, pushing the button on its front to maximize the sphere. As soon as Mizu had backed away from her foe, he quickly threw it at the pokemon before his Glizan got hurt again.

Struggling against the pokeball, the wolf/rat hybrid managed to give it three hearty shakes before, exhausted from lack of prey and the battle, it let out and the blue light faded, which meant it had been successfully caught.

"Uh..." A pause as the other trainer came over, Agni jumping off of her shoulder to nuzzle the other starting pokemon. Asterik, taking a little of the powder between two fingers and dipping her other hand in a nearby puddle [it had obviously rained during the night, she let a drop of water touch what was in the other hand, making a paste of it, which she then gently spread over a small gash in Mizu's side caused by a claw, and the leftover from that on another smaller gash. "She said it would heal like that..."

Mizu cringed slightly-- but not from pain, it simply tingled quite a lot. It was an odd feeling. "If it does what it's supposed to," Lance reminded her, stroking her head. "It'll heal fast. I'm not used to the remedies here..."

The lizard nodded apprehensively, but more readily as the tingling faded away with an odd feeling of the pain rushing away from her wounds.

"Glad it worked," Asterik admitted, "And I'm... kinda amazed that battles here are so intense. I mean- I kinda imagined it, but for your first?" A pause as she smiled down at the aquatic lizard. "Awesome job, Mizu."

The lizard smiled slightly, hopping up to climb onto her trainer's shoulder, curling around it contently. However, she put her head up, the scent of a pokemon filling her nostrils.

In a branch, not far from where the group stood, a small bird pokemon chirped madly. It had watched the battle; and frankly, it wasn't eager to be beaten up. Thus, it puffed itself up as best it could, trying to appear intimidating.

At this, the glizan gave as close to a snicker as she could. Despite dire circumstances, it looked ridiculous.

Agni gave another snicker in the pokemon-style, tail flicking as he neared the base of the tree, his trainer in tow. Sitting, he merely watched the robyn for a few seconds before leaping up, claws digging into the treebark.

"Agni, what're you doing?" Asterik mumbled, responded to with a mew that implied something along the lines of 'birdwatching. Up close.'.

The robyn chirped frantically, flitting to another branch, but missing its mark in its panic, landing on a branch, in fact, closer to the gromew.

Much to its annoyance, and to the amusement of trio of Lance, Anubis, and Mizu.

"Wow," Anubis muttered, covering his mouth with a paw to hide his grin and stifle his uncharacteristic small giggle.

With another meow, the blue fire/flying type decided to try testing out its small wings, jumping to the branch the robyn now perched on, wings fluttering to give him a tiny bit more lift. It batted at the small bird, claws not extended, just trying to play with it.

The Robyn screeched a note, trying to hop away. And yet-- it was still young, so as it tried to flit to another tree, it very narrowly avoided falling to the ground, grabbing a branch with one foot.. and ending up clinging to it, one-footed, and upside down.

Needless to say, this wasn't the highlight of its day. Even Asterik, who normally took pity on birds, gave a giggle at that as Agni hopped to the branch the robyn now held in one claw, jostling it slightly.

The robyn chirped angrilly again, letting its foot go from the branch, managing to land unharmed (but tired and annoyed) on the ground, flapping its wings desperately to try and frighten them away, completely in vain.

"It's young," Anubis remarked. "It's not going to survive long here, if I'm not wrong..." the dog muttered, looking at Asterik. "Try catching it?"

"Of course," Asterik nodded, walking over to the little bird as it chirped, Mizu taking the opposate side as he hopped down. Offering the pokemon a berry from her pack- it already seemed weak and couldn't possibly be getting the nutrition it needed - she held it out gently to the pokemon, working delacately to avoid scaring it off.

It was rather obvious she had practace at this sort of thing.

The bird, still rather miffed, paused before apprehensively pecking at the berry, silent.

"Well, isn't this place special," Lance remarked, folding his arms with a sigh. "And just think, there are still miles to go until the damn city! Joy of joys," he sighed, looking at the ground. He couldn't help it; he was stressed. He had a tendency to be a bit snappier when he was as such.

Once the robyn was distracted, Asterik merely shrugged a reply, slowly reaching into her bag once more to obtain a pokeball, tapping it against the bird's side as she knealt, Mizu watching with extreme intrest.

The robyn, at this point, didn't care exactly; there was no shaking of the sphere. Life in the wild was... well... the word could be summed best up as shitty. It couldn't be any worse with a trainer, right?

"Right," Anubis said, clapping his paws together. "Are we going to get our sorry asses on the move, eh?"

"Yup," muttered the female trainer, as the little cat pokemon jumped on her shoulder once more and she slipped the pokeball into her belt and stood, offering a small smile. With two [well, three, technically pokemon each, it seemed to her at least it wasn't such a bad start. With a tendancy to not like rushing, especially headfirst into dangerous places, she was fine with having a laid-back approach to this, possibly being the check to Lance's tipping the scale.

"This is going to be, lovely," Lance sighed, massaging his temples as he began walking, Anubis humming a tune to himself.

"Oh, of course, a skip through a field of bellsprout and sunflora," he chuckled sarcastically, spinning on the spot occasionally to emphasize his point of sarcasm, sticking his tongue out. "What did you expect?"

_Certainly something easier than this_, laughed the butterfree, who had impressively kept silent for the past half-hour, flying a bit ahead of the group to fly backwards before them_. But, hey! I guess Sytar doesn't bend to anything, huh?_

"Just watch, the first gym's fire-typed and you can't help," Asterik muttered.

"Neither can you," Lance muttered to Anubis, who stuck his tongue out. Damn being half-steel type, for some... ODD reason. He never knew quite why... but he was. Damn it all.

"Well," the teenager muttered, hands behind his head. "Looks like we're really going on another adventure from almost-scratch 'gain, no?"

"Of course," Asterik offered, "Nothing's that easy. I mean, c'mon, at least in Sinnoh... There were friends to fall back on," she muttered, cut off.

_You've got us, that's what matters,_ the Butterfree interjected. _Not completely on your own, eh?_

"I did say almost scratch," Lance pointed out, looking at the sky. "Though I guess I never considered that pokemon training would ever be a matter of life or death..." he sighed, walking along in silence for a moment, before remarking quietly. "This would never have happened if we never became champions in the first place..."

And there was his extremely negative side poking through.

Asterik gave a small laugh, "Or if the Professors could keep their noses out of the other regions and let us go home after Sinnoh... But hey, I wouldn't trade it."

Did I just hear you right? Sally asked, amused by this statement.

"Yeah, you did. I mean- if we die here... I'm dying for a cause," she shrugged, "Something's messed up here, I might as well try to save lives while I have my own." Strangely, the trainer seemed comfortable with the topic once she had gotten over the initial shock of having her team stolen and tucked the emotions away.

A frown tugged at the side of Lance's mouth. "How long has it been?" he muttered, brushing hair out of his eyes. "About four years as champion... almost eight years as a trainer... you think I'd be more prepared for something like this. But I'm not..." he sighed, closing his eyes. "Never thought, when I was ten, I'd ever end up champion, let alone like this. I mainly only wanted to start for something to do, to get away from home... not to end up saving the damn reigon or world or whatever."

"Four years as Champion," Asterik muttered, "Almost seven as a legit trainer. I think... That's what everyone wants. But- Like the Champions before us... They somehow ended up getting stuck in the job. Just like we did. I have to admit, it wasn't too bad- Getting to be home, training Pokemon again, with people looking at my team and I with awe... Didn't mind being called away for battles..." A pause, "But we're here now. Thinking about the past will just make us nostalgic."

"You have to admit that training is a lot easier when you're not going to get killed if you slip up," Lance pointed out, sighing as he took his hands from behind his head, opening up his eyes again and looking at the nearest tree, before down to the lone two pokeballs on his belt. Maybe it would be safer to find a different way to carry them, he thought, while they were here...

"True," agreed the other trainer, yawning as she thought the same thoughts. Reaching behind her, into her pack, she replaced Agni and the robyn - whom she had named Aer - with two empty pokeballs, keeping the empty flame-marked ball in her pocket and slipping Aer back in her pack.

Lance sighed slightly, putting his hands in his jean pockets -- having not been assed to change his clothing from yesterday -- and looked ahead of him. It was a bit hilly; scattered trees; and extremely serene, due to the small amounts (in comparison) of pokemon.

It was genuinely disturbing to the Johto Champion. He sighed a bit once more, stroking Mizu -- who was still curled around his shoulders -- on the head, falling into silence.


End file.
